I finally decided to go and buy my own vertical stuffer. I am part owner of a 15lb vertical stuffer but the stuffer always seems to be at one of my buddies house which is 100 miles away so I decided to go out and get my own for when I want to do small batches on my own. We usually get together and do 300-400 lbs of venison sausage every year but we never got around to it last year. I know the 5lb stuffer is a bit small but I will mostly be using it for small bathes. If I want to do some larger batches I will track down the 15lb stuffer. I can't wait to put this baby to use. I have a bunch of venison in the freezer and I have sticks, sausage and summer sausage on the agenda very soon. I picked it up at Northern Tool for $79.99. Online they were the reduced price but when I went to my local store it was priced at $100 something. They said they would match the online price so I was happy.

Ross, that looks just like my Northern Tool 5LB stuffer. I will always swear these things come out of a factory and different people put their names on them.

Mine has served me well. The plastic or nylon gears have not been a problem, even though I thought I was buying metal gears when I bought it. As Craig said, I don't try to torque the hell out of it when it hits bottom.

You can put something about a 1/4 inch thick in the bottom, run the piston down (without meat of course) until it hits. Now count the threads on the screw or mark it permanantly somehow. This will tell you when you are just about done stuffing. I have no problem knowing when mine hits the bottom, but it may all depend on the sausage being stuffed.

I'm sure you already know you need a good base for that stuffer.. Enjoy

Congrats on the stuffer Ross.......Just a thought but why dont you give your buddy a call and swap the stuffers..... Does he do large amounts of sausage like you....... he should meet you half way.... If I had and shared the stuffer with you and was 100 miles away and you needed it ,you would be stuffing the next day.....

Congrats on the stuffer Ross.......Just a thought but why dont you give your buddy a call and swap the stuffers..... Does he do large amounts of sausage like you....... he should meet you half way.... If I had and shared the stuffer with you and was 100 miles away and you needed it ,you would be stuffing the next day.....

Joe

The other stuffer is owned by 4 of us and two of them (my brother and buddy) live in the same town and then the fourth guy lives even further away. The town where my brother and buddy live is about half way for myself and the fourth guy to if he or myself need it we don't have to go to far. And also my brother and buddy usually use it the most or we go there to use it so it just makes it easier to leave it there. If I plan out ahead of time it's not a problem to get the stuff but some times I just get a wild hair up my butt and decide to make something last minute and it will be nice to have something here all the time so I can do that. Most of the time my brother and I are making our sausage together so he will bring it with or I will be going there to use it. But the nice thing is I have the big smoke shack at my house so it's much easier to smoke the sausage at my house because we can do 100+lbs at a time on my smoker.